


An alternate (canon-compliant) history of the Uchiha clan

by Aethelar



Category: Naruto
Genre: I don't like Kishimoto's explanation of the Uchiha clan, Metafiction, Other, Politics is a many headed thing, or the Senju clan, so i wrote my own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24197962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aethelar/pseuds/Aethelar
Summary: Apparently, Obito blamed the Uchiha for the Kyuubi, and this was enough to turn the village against the Uchiha until the Uchiha planned a coup.Apparently, the Uchiha were just Like That because of a genetic predisposition to being dramatic, and springing a coup out of nowhere wasn't just in character, it was practically to be expected.Yeah. I didn't like it either.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 142





	An alternate (canon-compliant) history of the Uchiha clan

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who read A Lack of Wisdom, yes, I developed this history for that story, but it was among one of the several plot lines that I decided against integrating. Consider it more part of my ongoing attempt to make canon make sense rather than anything else!
> 
> For those of you who don't read A Lack of Wisdom, no worries, nothing in here references that fic so you're golden.

Most of the clans in Konoha have at least some form of clan land or clan compound. The notable exception to this is the Senju; despite being one of the two clans founding the village, and despite providing the first two Hokages, there is no Senju land and other than Tsunade there do not seem to be any surviving Senju. Given that we are less than a hundred years from the founding, this seems odd to me.

My solution: Konoha _is_ the Senju clan. They haven’t disappeared - they’re everywhere. They don’t have separate clan lands because all of Konoha is theirs, and they don’t have a separate clan head because the Senju Clan Head was the first Hokage. By the time we get to the modern day the politics have shifted away from being quite so clan focussed, but the roots remain. Crucially, so does the Uchiha - Senju divide.

The timeline looks like this:

Hashirama defeats Madara to bring the Warring States period to a close. Instead of taking victory, the Senju ask for peace - or at least, Hashirama does. Bearing in mind though that these two clans hate each other and have fought long and bloody wars against each other, peace is meticulously negotiated and warily cautious.

As a sign of their new alliance, and in concession to their defeat, the Uchiha provide the Senju with land on the banks of their river. The Uchiha keep the part they’ve settled on to themselves; this forms the Uchiha District that survives to the modern day. As part of the land treaty, it’s agreed: each clan’s lands belong solely to that clan. Only Uchihas can build on, farm, or own property within the Uchiha District. Only the Senju can build on, farm, or own property within the new Senju lands. Hashirama grows a defensive forest around the whole area, and Madara names the joint Uchiha-Senju village Konohagakure.

Konoha grows. Hashirama drives it; he invites other clans, and gives them areas of land to have as their own clan compounds. Any clanless or civilian newcomers he incorporates into the Senju clan, until Senju identity is lost among the new Konoha identity. Even the Senju clan head position is lost, as Hashirma takes up Hokage position instead. It’s basically clan head but for Konoha, and every new clan that moves to the village swears allegiance before they’re allowed to settle.

It doesn’t go unnoticed though that Konoha is Senju Clan 2.0. The Uchiha’s dissatisfaction results in Madara being driven out the village; the remaining Uchiha - and the history books - claim that he acted alone, and that the rest of the clan was loyal. It may be relevant to note here that there is a significant power imbalance between the two clans and that any Uchiha dissenters may consider this further proof that peace was a lie; if they were truly equal, they might have argued, then why were they driven out when they dared speak their mind. 

But: whether they said this in private or not, the public face of the village was united. As a sign of trust, the Uchiha were given charge of the police force, and the populations of both Uchiha and Konoha-Senju grew. In time, the Senju were forgotten, and any residual animosity they held against the Uchiha forgotten with them.

I mean, how likely would it be for people to remember and hold a grudge against a clan they were at war with? The Uchiha keep themselves apart, the Senju are so integrated with the village that they _are_ the village. Prejudices are slippery things. Don’t trust an Uchiha. Look at Madara; signed a peace treaty, then betrayed us. So traitorous even the Uchiha themselves are ashamed of their history. And their _eyes_ , who could ever be comfortable with a thief like that? If they steal techniques, who knows what else they’ll steal?

Then: the police. Hoo boy, that’s a divisive subject; who gave the _Uchiha_ the right to enforce the law? Did you know they keep their fines? I bet they make most of them up. Watch yourself; if you’ve come home from a hard mission and all you want is a drink, there’ll be an Uchiha somewhere waiting to spoil your fun.

Then: the war. Every clan sent their children to the front and every clan lost someone. The clanless died by the dozens. But the Uchiha? They’re the police, aren’t they? There are no Uchiha in the genin corps, the clan keeps them all back for the police. Yeah, sure, _some_ Uchiha fight on the front lines, but how many more are hiding safe back in the village while our kids bleed out and die?

Populations grow. The Hashirama trees are an immovable barrier; Konoha looks to external farmers and starts importing food so it can use the land inside the village for housing. Clans are no longer able to be self sufficient, so they set up businesses and trades, each one providing a unique and valuable service to the village. The Akimichi open restaurants and supply soldier pills. The Yamanakas sell flowers and poisons. The Yanagakikage clan produce weapons.

But: The Uchiha cannot own land or property on Senju land. They are the only clan bound by the original peace treaty and so the only ones this applies to, but it heavily restricts what business they can conduct with the rest of the village. They have the police force, but fines are not a steady source of income, no matter how much people accuse them of abusing them. The other thing they have which the other clans don’t is their connections. They’ve been in this area a lot longer than anyone but the Senju, and it means that if you need a rare item, an exotic spice that needs to be traded for, a luxury kimono in the latest style of the Daimyo’s court - the Uchiha are the ones to go to.

They become brokers of high end goods. It suits the image they have of themselves as high class and cultured, and it’s also basic economics that you get a higher profit from silk than from rice. It’s not an easy business to expand though: any shops they open are either within their clan district, which doesn’t bring any new money in, or in Konoha but rented, which is an expensive way to move stock. As well as brokerage then to wealthy individuals they start selling stock on to other shop keepers, sourcing raw materials for the weaponsmiths and new seeds for the poison growers. They negotiate a contract on Konoha’s behalf, take their cut as payment, maybe invest enough in a new tailor to grow his business so he buys more silk from them and everyone wins.

But: No one likes the middleman. Once the contracts are in place, the Uchiha’s cut is basically a tax. When the contracts come up for renewal, it’s easy enough to go around the Uchiha and make a better deal with the supplier direct. Give it enough time and everyone’s been in Konoha long enough to make connections, why pay the Uchiha to buy your mahogany furniture when you can buy it yourself for less? Besides, the working class is growing. The standard Konoha residence is now a flat, not a house, and silk paintings are outdated and expensive. Everyone wants to eat, restock their kunai, repair their roof; not many people want to follow the latest fashion in gold hair pieces from the daimyo’s court.

Uchiha funds dwindle. They try to branch out into other businesses, but they can’t. The land laws prevent them owning their own business, and their unpopularity make it difficult to find employment in other people’s. They increase profit margins on the businesses they do have but that just drives customers away. The fines from the police force - and what budget they can get from the council - become more and more important, and that would hardly be ideal if the Uchiha and the village _liked_ each other.

The only other income stream in through missions. Uchiha are proud and demand exactingly high standards from their ninja. They are also reserved in a way that many people see as cold, and those who are more outgoing tend to rebel against the clan’s stuffy, hidebound nature. On the one hand, it means that these few outgoing Uchiha are well liked; on the other, it means that those who know them dislike the clan more on their behalf.

So: here are the Uchiha. Like the rest of the village, they’ve built over their farms and are importing food; unlike the rest of the village, they don’t have the business to support it. Enough of them remember that Konoha is Senju and they blame their problems and the village’s dislike of them on the fact that Hashirama was either a liar or a fool, and Madara was right to see Konoha for the danger it was. Look at the Hokages: how is this an equal village when every Hokage has been either Senju or a student of the Senju? Minato, maybe, though even he was connected back to Tobirama’s teachings. Minato has an uphill battle to fight though, because as much as the Uchiha don’t like the village, the village also don’t like the Uchiha.

No one’s right. No one’s objectively wrong, either. It’s a mess. Politics often is.

And then Minato dies. Hiruzen returns, and he is Tobirama’s student, Tobirama the warmonger who killed Izuna and broke Madara, Tobirama who the Uchiha hate more than they ever hated Hashirama. Hiruzen returns, and Danzo resurfaces, and Obito arranges it so the Uchiha take the fall for the kyuubi and Minato’s death.

The fragile threads of peace that Minato and Fugaku had tried to build don’t stand a chance. The Uchiha might not be liked, but they’re still a clan, one of the largest, one of the oldest - without the Senju, arguably _the_ oldest. They clash with the Hokage every council meeting. They fight, politically, with everything they have as though they were back at war and fighting the Senju for the right to survive. They’re blocked and driven back and in desperation they ask _what else can we do_ because every motion they make is seen as money-grabbing, greedy, the fat cat broker who takes his taxes years after his work is done, the bullish policeman doubling fines because he can -

God, they’re annoying, Hiruzen thinks.

God, their eyes, Danzo thinks.

God, please, Fugaku thinks.

And together, though they each have different solutions in mind: Think how much better it would be if the Uchiha weren’t part of Konoha any more.

Then: they weren’t.


End file.
